“Oh fuck,” said Meleyna, and I thought I wanted nothing more. But there were pressing issues, one of them being her grandmother calling out from the porch and another, her injury.

“You need to get that arm looked at,” I said.

“I can clean it up just fine,” Meleyna drawled.

I thought I couldn’t get enough of that soft, lazy Southern accent that made this tough woman more incredibly sexy. If her grandmother hadn’t interrupted, I wasn’t sure if I could stop. Meleyna was delicious, in more than one way, and I certainly didn’t want to stop at merely kissing her. No. I wanted much more. But I wouldn’t be getting anything if she fell sick from a wild animal attack.

“No,” I said sternly. “A wild animal attack should be looked at by a doctor.”

“Look, Mr. Idaho, I don’t know how you do things there, but here we are self-reliant.”

“And stubborn,” I retorted. “But you’ll find I’m more stubborn than you. Now, do you want your grandmother to come here and find this mess, or are you going to go talk to her?”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Good. And call Animal Control.”

“Bossy,” she muttered. But I walked down the run and into the kennel door. I made sure both kennel gates were closed and then checked Parker over to make sure he didn’t have any wounds. With a sigh of relief, I found the pup didn’t have a scratch, and I gave him a big hug.

“Good boy,” I murmured, burying my face in Parker’s shoulder. He gave me sloppy wet kisses on my cheek.

“Let’s go see to Meleyna.”

Parker fell in step at my side as we left the kennel and walked the short distance to the house. Meleyna stood outside as her grandmother inspected the wound, shaking her head.

“You’re a damn fool,” she muttered. “You should have called Animal Control.”

“Grandma, you know they don’t handle wild animals, but I need to call them now. Excuse me.”

Meleyna walked into the house, leaving me alone with Mrs. Harris.

She smiled at me. “Thank you, for saving her.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. Besides, it was Parker that was the hero. He pulled the coyote off her.”

“Well, an extra cookie for you,” she said. From her pocket, she pulled a round dog biscuit. “Can I?” she asked.

“Sure, though let me give it to him.”

Parker’s eyes watched the transfer of the treat from Mrs. Harris to me expectantly. “Here, buddy,” I said as I held the dog cookie to Parker, who gobbled it greedily.

“There’s not a dog that doesn’t like my biscuits,” said Mrs. Harris with a smile.

“You made those?”

“My recipe. Not a single chemical in them. Meleyna makes a bunch when she has the chance, which hasn’t been lately. We are running a little short, both on biscuits and manpower.” She gave me a pointed look, but I turned my head away. I wouldn’t stay if Meleyna didn’t think it was a good idea.

Meleyna’s feet hit the steps in a jog, bringing her to the porch.

“Animal Control is on the way. Once they pick up the coyote, we’ll go to the Emergency Room.”

“Emergency Room?” said Mrs. Harris.

“Apparently, our guest is afraid I’ll become rabid.”

“Not that concerned,” I said. “Just want to make sure.”

“You should also get Parker checked out. Just because he looks fine, doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurt.”

“You’re right. But in the Marines, after triage, we take care of the bleeding men first. That is if they are worth saving.”

Meleyna’s eyes grew wide at my joke. Fuck. I’d have to tone down the gallows humor. Any of my buddies would have thought it hilarious, but civilians, not so much. But then her face broke out into a wide grin.

“I tell you what, Idaho man, if you do start some of the heavy lifting around here, we’ll see who is worth saving. You might be a rough, tough Marine, but I’ll bet a day working on the farm will ‘whup the nonsense’ right out of you.”

“Farm? Who said anything about a farm?”

Susan laughed.

“Around here, every homestead is a farm one way or the other. Look, here’s Cherie Tate.”

A large capped truck with a medallion on the side announcing “Buncombe County Animal Control” rattled up the gravel and stopped before the house. But also, a police cruiser rolled in behind it.

“Oh shit,” muttered Meleyna.

“What?” I asked.

“I do not need this right now,” she mumbled as she stood stiffly with her arms crossed, as the Animal Control Officer and the Sheriff Randy Barker opened the gate and walked the stairs.

“Mrs. Harris, Meleyna,” said Cherie. “How are you?’

“Cherie, thanks for coming out. We have a coyote that attacked Meleyna in the dog run. It’s dead and, of course, we need it tested. He did a number on her arm.”

“Meleyna,” said Randy. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Matthew here will take me to the Emergency Department.”

“I’ll do that,” said Randy.

“No. Just help Cherie with the carcass.”

“But—”

“Besides, Randy, I’m sure you and Cherie want to get back to your date after this.”

The way Meleyna said “date” sounded like she definitely disapproved. I didn’t know what was going on, but there was a definite tension between her and the sheriff. Parker stirred next to me, and the dog looked to Meleyna, then the sheriff.

“Come on, Randy,” said Cherie as she handed him a white hazard suit. She already had put on hers. “Let’s go take a look.”

With a squinty glare at Meleyna and then me, he turned away and put on the suit. Cherie pulled out a large black bag.

“Meleyna, can you show us where he is?”

“Sure,” she replied. Her feet clattered on the wooden steps, and she disappeared into the night with the sheriff and the animal control officer.

“Is it bad?” said Susan. “Where you shot the coyote?”

“There’s blood on the concrete.”

“The whole run will need to be disinfected, every inch. Regardless of whether or not it had rabies, wild animals can bring in any number of infections. You should wash Parker down too.”

“I will before we go to sleep. But he’s had all the shots possible, you know because he’s in public so much. Max, his trainer, was strict on that.”

“Still, you never know, especially since coyotes are scavengers. They will eat any carcasses they find.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am. I make sure my partner here is in fighting shape.”

Susan smiled. “I sure hope you decide to stay. I haven’t seen Meleyna smile so much in a good long while. She puts on this hard front, but it’s nice to see her finally “loosen” up, you know?”

“Well, I’d like to keep her smiling.”

“Consider it a job requirement.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I grinned.

Meleyna returned with the two officers, hauling a black bag trailing her. After they loaded it into the animal control truck and stripped their hazard suits, the sheriff returned to the porch.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the ER?” Randy asked.

“Yes,” replied Meleyna. “Matthew will take me.”

I’m not gonna lie, that made me feel fucking great that she chose me, even with the sheriff standing right there.

“We’ve asked him to stay to give us a hand,” said Susan brightly.

“What?” said Barker, narrowing his eyes, and he flicked a suspicion-filled glance toward me.

“Let’s go, Rand,” called Cherie. “I’d like to get back to what we were doing.”

“They are dating,” said Susan to Matthew.

“Grandma,” scolded Meleyna.

“It’s the truth, isn’t it, Randy?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said hesitantly.

“I hope Meleyna will find someone nice to date, too,” Susan said, “but she says she’s too busy. And now you are too, so you can’t go out together.”

The sheriff’s face turned a curious shade of red. “Meleyna knows how to get ahold of me. Well, I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” she said sourly. “You do that.”

Meleyna stared after the sheriff as he climbed into his cruiser and used the parking area to turn it around. Soon, both town vehicles clattered on the gravel road,

“Should we go?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’m going back to bed,” said Susan. “I’m not waiting up for you. You’re likely to be there until dawn.”

“Okay, grandma, good night.” Meleyna gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Parker happily settled into the back seat of the SUV and poked his head between the two seats as we headed toward Russellville. Meleyna sat with her arms folded and her head down. I wondered what had her so unhappy, though I imagined it could be from the pain of the wounds.

“You okay?”

“Sure.”

“I mean does it hurt much?”

“It’s calmed to an ache as long as I don’t move the arm much.”

Parker managed a sloppy tongue kiss to Meleyna’s cheek.

“He’s really taken to you,” I said.

“Animals and I get along, especially dogs,” she replied.

“He doesn’t like that sheriff much,” I offered.

Meleyna shrugged and looked out the window into the night.

“How long has he been going out with that animal control officer?”

“It’s none of my business,” Meleyna exploded. “And none of yours.”

Parker whined and tried to lick her face again. She reached behind her seat and rubbed Parker behind the ears. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Look, I’m just trying to make conversation.”

“Don’t,” Meleyna replied.

“Okay. Sorry if it seemed like I was prying.”

“You weren’t,” she said ruefully. “Look. I’m sorry, I overreacted.”

“Hey, that’s okay. I’m known as the overreaction king myself. Though I’m trying not to overreact to you muscling in on the action with my dog.” I tried to hide my grin.

Meleyna gave me a surprised look and pulled her arm back.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was Parker that instigated it, huh, you faithless hound?”

Parker leaned over and licked my face.

“Don’t try to make it up to me,” I said with mock sternness. “Go lay down.”

With a whine, Parker pulled back and lay the length of the seat with his head on his paws.

“Look,” I said. “I don’t know what is going on between you and Barker—”

Meleyna sighed. “He was my first love and until a few months ago—well, he didn’t want to come out of the closet. I was tired of being used and in a dysfunctional relationship. So that’s what it is.”

“So he’s bi? Or as they say now, pansexual?”

“Oh, fuck no. The women he dates don’t get more than a kiss on the cheek. They think he’s being a nice Christian boy.”

“That’s how it is,” I said, as it all finally made sense.

“Yeah. That’s how it is.”

“And what about you? Did you want him to choose you?”

“I did because he was my best friend and we have so much history together, but now I see that it’s not what he wants, so it’s time to move on and leave it in the past.”

“But you still love him.”

Meleyna shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I feel anymore. My head’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, I know what that’s like.”

She looked away. “Take this exit. We’re almost there.”

“Sure.”

I flicked a glance at her again, who was once again folding her arms across her chest, which only served to push her chest out further. I could see the top swell of her breasts beckoning to me. The towel she wore on her arm was bright red, and this worried me, pulling my thoughts away from her cleavage. The wounds must be deep, and that was never good. I refocused my attention back to her arm and stepped on the gas.